Richard Swenson is a physician-researcher, best-selling author, and award-winning educator. He received his B.S. in physics from Denison University and his M.D. from the University of Illinois School of Medicine. Following five years of private practice, in 1982 Dr. Swenson accepted a teaching position as Associate Clinical Professor within the University of Wisconsin Medical School system where he taught for fifteen years.

As a physician-researcher, his current focus is "cultural medicine," studying the intersection of health, culture, faith, and the future. He has written extensively on trends in modern society, including the acceleration of stress, overload, change, complexity, and speed. Six of his books are dedicated to this general topic, and they contain hundreds of practical prescriptions (Rxs) for decompressing the increasing pressures of life.

Dr. Swenson has traveled to over fifty countries, including a year of study in Europe and medical work in developing countries. He has presented widely, including national and international settings, to a wide variety of career, professional, educational, medical, governmental, and management groups, most major church denominations, members of the United Nations, NASA, Congress, and the Pentagon.